There have conventionally been proposed various steam cooking apparatuses that heat-cook an article-to-be-heated placed inside a heating chamber by feeding into it steam generated with a steam generating device (for example, a pot). One such steam cooking apparatus is disclosed in Patent Document 1 listed below. In this steam cooking apparatus, after an article-to-be-heated is steam-cooked with steam generated with a steam generating device, while the heater of the steam generating device is kept de-energized, cooling water is fed into the steam generating device. Thus, after steam-cooking, the steam generating device is quickly cooled, so that the user can readily start after-cooking work (for example, the cleaning of the interior of the apparatus). The water that has been fed into the steam generating device is drained through a drain passage.
On the other hand, in the apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 listed below, when an operation member for requesting the stop of operation is operated, all the liquid present inside a steam generating device is drained. Thus, every day, when the operation of the apparatus is stopped, impurities that have been concentrated inside the steam generating device are drained. In this way, without a need for the steam generating device to be provided with a control device such as a concentration meter, the apparatus can continue its day-to-day operation.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-H7-243649
Patent Document 2: JP-A-H11-94203